The daytime sky was entirely blue, looming over the illuminated land scape. Very few clouds had dotted the sky. The streets of the regal city of Canterlot were bustling with merchants, selling their wears. Nobles trotted down the streets with their heads held high.
Spike and the Mane 5 kept to the alleyways as to not draw too much attention. The sun had not yet risen too high into the sky, as it was still morning. Shadows filled in most of the ally ways, and high class nobles tended to stay away from such ‘filthy’ places. The perfect way to get around without drawing attention.
They would eventually arrive near the castle gates, leading into the courtyard where the central path would take one to the main entrance. The exit from the ally, into the street, landed near where the entrance gate was, allowing them to remain undetected whilst near their goal.
“Alright, Pinkie Pie. You know what to do right?” whispered Rainbow Dash to the bubbly pink earth pony.
“Of course silly filly!” she chimed, bouncing up and down. Applejack stuffed a hoof into Pinkie Pie’s mouth.
“Shhh!” the orange mare ordered. “Do ya want em’ to hear us back here?” Applejack asked, this time whispering. Pinkie Pie shook her head. With that, Applejack lowered her hoof.
“Alright, darling. It’s time for you to shine,” said Rarity, motioning for Pinkie Pie to distract the guards at the gate entrance. The pink mare nodded, smiling as she did so. Pinkie Pie turned around and faced the street. To the left, down the street a very short distance, was the entrance gate. The mare had a confident look on her face.
She bounced out of the alley and into view on the street. The pink mare had a happy go lucky smile on her face as she nonchalantly bounced towards the entrance gate. The guards spotted her, but remained stoic and unmoving.
Pinkie Pie stopped bouncing in front of the gate, and looked at the two guards on each side of the gate. “Hi!” she exclaimed. Neither guard moved a muscle, nor replied in anyway.
Pinkie Pie took a few more steps forward towards the gate until both guards suddenly burst from their spots and blocked Pinkie’s path.
“Halt!” one of them ordered.
“What business do you have at the castle?” the other asked.
Pinkie Pie stared at the pair of guards before hilariously crazy grin formed on Pinkie’s visage. “I’m here, to PARTY!” she shouted, as she hopped over both guards and quickly bucked the gate open. Their jaws dropped as they watched the crazy pink mare illegally enter the castle grounds without a care in the world.
Pinkie Pie darted into the large court yard without hesitating, laughing all the while. The guards glanced at each other for a moment before taking off after the crazed pink earth pony.
“WEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!” she yelled in excitement, tearing through the court yard, making as much noise as possible. Other guards stationed in the area looked on at the rampaging pink mare, surprised by her suicidal boldness. They promptly took off after Pinkie Pie to help catch her, leaving the area unguarded as planned.
The wonderful thing about Pinkie Pie is her incredible speed for an earth pony. Pinkie Pie had full confidence she could outrun any of the royal guards. The mare has demonstrated speeds matching even a flying Rainbow Dash, on hoof. Pinkie Pie eventually lead her pursuers towards the Royal Sculpture Garden, away from main court yard.
She glanced back to see a number of armored pegasi and unicorn guards chasing her. Pinkie Pie stuck her tongue out at the pursuing authorities, mocking them. They were visibly annoyed at this, growling at the mare.
One of the pegasi branched off and flew to the main entrance, where he entered the castle in hurry.
As the commotion began trailing off into the distance, Spike and the Mane 4 quickly approached the unguarded entrance and slipped in through opened gate undetected. The group of friends peeked around, finding the area deserted.
“Heh heh. Good ol’ Pinkie Pie,” said Applejack, with a chuckle.
Suddenly, a boom sounded off in the distance, coming from the direction that Pinkie Pie had lead the guards.
“Was that her Party Cannon?” asked Rarity, arching a brow.
“Probably. She never leaves home without it, after all,” Rainbow Dash replied, amused at Pinkie’s antics. But before any more could be said, in the distance, they saw the main doors creep open.
The group dove behind some hedges nearby to hide from whoever was emerging from the doorway. They peeked through small gaps in the hedges to see who it was.
The pegasus that had previously entered the castle emerged from the door, accompanied by more guards. Then, the last one to emerge from the main entrance was Captain Strong Wing.
“Ugh. The Captain again?” Rarity whispered, frustrated.
“I’ve just about had it with him,” replied Rainbow Dash, somewhat angered.
“Just control yerself, sugarcube. We ain’t here to get caught,” commented Applejack. Rainbow Dash huffed a little, but she knew that AJ was right. More talking ensued between the group before somepony interrupted them.
“Um.. Girls... They went after Pinkie Pie,” Fluttershy said quietly, having observed the Captain and the guards taking off towards the Sculpture Garden.
They fell silent for a moment.
“Well what are we waiting for? Let’s go,” ordered Spike, darting out of the hedges towards the door, which was currently unguarded. The Mane 4 quickly followed after him, arriving at the main doors without wasting any time.
With that, the Spike and the Mane 4 pushed the doors open, gaining access to the Castle without a hitch.
Now, it was time to find and rescue Twilight.
A streak of golden light tore through the air, striking the lavender unicorn head on. She yelped as she flew backwards from the blast. The mare came out with scorch marks on her fur.
Twilight Sparkle struggled to stand up; bruised, battered, bleeding, and now a little scorched. She was grunting and panting in pain the whole time. The mare was losing too much blood by this point. One of her eyes was partially shut from her injuries.
Purple light was emitted from Twilight’s horn as she crouched a little. A thick bubble of lavender materialized around her form, while beneath that, another aura surrounded her body. The unicorn attempted to ward off any more attacks that Princess Celestia may throw while simultaneously attempting to heal the damage that had been done to her.
Princess Celestia, recognizing what she was trying to do, wouldn’t give her much time. Strands and beads of golden magic energy gathered at the tip of the regal alicorn’s horn, quickly growing in size as she tilted her head forward to point her horn at the lavender mare. With that, Princess Celestia unleashed another wave of light that blazed towards Twilight Sparkle, this one being more powerful than the previous attack.
Upon contact with Twilight’s barrier, the beam exploded with a radiant, golden light. The floor around where Twilight was would be torn up and damaged, as were the walls on either side of the mare, kicking up a lot of dust and smoke in the process.
Princess Celestia waited a moment for the unintentional smoke screen to clear. Once it did, she found Twilight’s barrier heavily cracked, before shattering like glass. The alicorn wasn’t pleased with this however, as she had intended to blast right on through the barrier.
‘Hmph. I held back too much,’ she thought, giving an annoyed look.
Twilight stood up completely now that her barrier had shattered, leaving her vulnerable. With in the given time frame, the lavender mare had at least managed to stop the bleeding, and alleviated some of the pain. Although, she had hoped for more time to recover.
‘Come on! Think, Twilight, think!’ she shouted in her head, gritting her teeth. Given how the encounter was going so far, she knew she didn’t stand a chance in a traditional battle against the Princess. Twilight would have to use her wits if she was to have any chance of victory.
“This will be the last chance I give you to surrender, Twilight Sparkle,” claimed Celestia, with a stinging coldness to the way she spoke. The Princess promptly narrowed her eyes.
Twilight ignored the Princess Celestia’s words, and instead, chose to continue thinking. But she would have to do so fast.
“Well?” Celestia demanded, growing impatient.
“Not even in a thousand years!” shouted Twilight in response, her horn beginning to emit more light. The mare had just now managed to come up with strategy that she hoped would work.
With that, the light from her horn suddenly exploded into a blinding flare. Princess Celestia brought a hoof up and winced to shield herself from the blinding light before her. Unfortunately for her, she had already looked directly into the flare for just moment, impeding her vision.
Twilight Sparkle had used this as a diversion of course, having teleported during the blinding flare. The lavender unicorn quickly materialized directly behind the stunned alicorn, her horn still glowing.
Twilight lunged forth at the Princess Celestia, the aura of her horn shaping itself into a lance-like shape once more. ‘This is it!’ she though. The tip of her sharp aura drew ever closer. It seemed as if time had slowed down as the decisive blow was being delivered.
But then, something suddenly stopped Twilight Sparkle dead in her tracks, the tip of her horn’s aura mere inches away from Princess Celestia. No matter how hard she tried, she could not force herself forward any farther.
It was a barrier. This one was usually invisible to the naked the eye. However, it revealed itself upon being struck, a golden light appearing where the lavender mare’s attack had struck. Sparks of magic energy erupted from the point of contact, the unicorn’s sharp aura trying to force its way though Celestia’s shield, only to no avail.
Twilight was suddenly thrown back towards the stairs she had previously fallen down. The barrier had successfully repelled the mare, leaving Princess Celestia unscathed. She promptly landed inches away from the bottom step, glancing up towards the top.
‘Darn! A barrier!? This isn’t working... I need to get away from here and form a new plan.’ thought Twilight, wincing in fear a little. A sound caught her attention. Her eyes shifted towards Princess Celestia as she stood up on all fours.
The regal alicorn was grunting from the bright light that flashed her eyes. Although, she seemed to be recovering. The Princess brought her hoof down, no longer needing it. With that, she turned around to face Twilight Sparkle.
“A classic tactic. But unfortunately for you, I came prepared with my back side guarded,” she chuckled, as if to mock Twilight’s failed attempted to harm her.
Twilight shot Princess Celestia a nasty glare. “I’m not through yet!” she claimed. Her horn lit up quickly, only to flare up again with a blinding light. However, Princess Celestia shielded her eyes before she could be blinded again.
During the moments she shielded her eyes, a bolt of magic struck the alirocorn’s barrier. Afterwards, she thought she heard distant hoof steps, but something was wrong. They were, becoming dimmer, as if running away. Then, it hit her.
Twilight Sparkle used had used her flare once more as a distraction in conjunction with teleportation. This time, however, the mare had retreated in an attempt to buy her more time to fully recover and plan an effective counter attack. Twilight Sparkle didn’t care how long it took, she was determined to take Princess Celestia down once and for all.
Princess Celestia on the other hoof narrowed her eyes, annoyed at Twilight’s sudden retreat. She slammed a hoof into the floor, cracking the cobblestone below her. ‘I should have been more aggressive,’ she thought to herself.
The regal alicorn’s body vanished in a quick flash of golden light, only to reappear passed the top of the stairs, back in the corridor above. She listened for the hoof steps of Twilight Sparkle to determine which way she went. Fortunately for her, she could still hear the lavender unicorn’s hoofsteps. Princess Celestia promptly gave chase down the corridors, hunting her protege down.
“I’m coming for you, Twilight Sparkle,” the alicorn said to herself, narrowing her eyes.
“And this time, I won’t go easy on you.”